#manichaeism

Quartz crystal sealstone (2.9 cm in diameter, 0.9 cm thick), known as the "sealstone of Mani". The stone bears the intaglio busts of three devotees of Manichaeism, the faith founded by the Mesopotamian prophet and thinker Mani (ca. 216-277 CE). Syncretizing many other faiths and religious movements of his day, including Christianity (both "orthodox" and Gnostic), Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism, Mani conceived of the cosmos as entrapped in a ferocious struggle between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. His Manichaean followers were divided into two groups: the Elect, who purified their bodies through a rigorous regime of diet and sexual abstinence in order to attain the Kingdom of Light, and the "Hearers," who attended upon the Elect and whose hopes for salvation depended upon the Elect's prayers for them. Among the later "Hearers" of Manichaeism was the future St. Augustine of Hippo.

The inscription surrounding the three figures on this sealstone is in Syriac, the lingua franca of the Near East in late antiquity. It reads M’ny šlyḥ’ d-yyšw‘ mšyḥ, "Mani, messenger of the Messiah"--a frequent salutation used by Mani to his followers in his preserved letters. It is thus possible, though not certain, that this sealstone was used by Mani himself to seal his documents. It now resides in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.

What if Manichaeism Survived in Taiwan?

In this timeline, Chinese Manicheans from Fujian flew across the strait to Taiwan in the 10th century during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, settling on the West Coast of the Island. These Min and Hakka settlers rules as a minority as they converted much of the Indigenous Formosans to Manichaeism, establishing Four Kingdoms centred around Lokchiang, Saungsang, Xitan, and Iache.

As the Four Kingdoms spread Manichaeism throughout Western Formosa, the Indigenous Populations would quickly dominate governance and the Elect (Manichean Clergy) as Chinese settlers populations would mix into Plains groups like the Lloa, Siraya, and Taokas. By 1100, The Four Initial Kingdoms would have fully integrated to Formosan Culture, albeit with great Chinese Manichean Influence through culture, governance, tulou-style villages, religion, and a writing sysem based on Manichaeism's liturigcal language: Syriac.

As nations like Taivuking, Ngusansang, and Iraka indigenised and expanded eastward into the Highlands, Manichaeism spread across East Asia from the 11th century via missionaries and trade. Tauvuking spread the faith to the Philippines, Indochina, Nusantara and all the way to Sri Lanka and Kerala while Missionaries of Iraka when north, proselytizing Ryukyu and going up to Korea and Japan.

Ngusansang (Originally Saungsang) was the oldest and most powerful of the Formosan Kingdoms, with the related Lloa and Arikun ethnic groups sharing power, despite setbacks in the Kingdom's existance such as the Northern Oppupation of Papabenan and secession of the Ngung Kingdom in the 900s, it is the premier power of Western Formosa by the 14th century.

This is opposed to Xitan who, after a revolt by the Pazeh people against the coastal Taokas elite, split in half as the Kingdoms of Ganahkalat (Taokas) and Papabenan (Pazeh), cuasing a centuries long rivalry that would lead to several wars between the two. This rivalry would be post-poned when Ngusansang, Iraka and the Saisyat break-away state of Azemaehoe invaded the two nations (1285-1291) reducing them to mere rump states.

The Settler State of Iache was first taken over by the Local Basay who consolidated the northern tip as the Iraka Kingdom, the southern extremities of Iraka would be occupied by multiple Ketangalan states. However, the growth of Iraka's economy from Eastern Trade led to it reannexing the Western Ketangalan Kingdoms, compounding in the end of the nations premier state: Kikasibau, under conquest by the Kavalan who, under the Kbaran Kingdom, would cunquer and replace the Basay as rulers of Great Iraka (Rayamelaka in Kavalan), cementing themselves as the hegemon of Northern Formosa.

Due to being pushed south by Ngusansang, Taivuking (under Siraya control) would expand across southern Formosa, spreading Manichaeism to the Makatao, Rukai, and Paiwan people. However, conflict beteween Taivuking and Ngusansang led to the Tsouic peoples and surrounding communtiies to revlt, leading to the formation of the Couhos-ai Confederacy. This loss led to the collpase of Taivuking, usurped by the Taivoan dominated Kingdom of Taibowan. The Paiwanese client state of Milingan would also take much of the former kingdoms Eastern territories to form the Kacalisian Empire.

The Kacalisian Empire dominated Southern Formosa in the 13th century, introducing the Manichean faith to the Amis and Bunun and placing the Amis city-states under its tribute. As the empire pushed to expand its influence across the Luzon Strait, several failed naval campains in the Babuyan Islands and Ma'ataw drained a lot of the empires manpower and economy, giving Taibowan the oppurtunity to reclaim former Taivuking Territory from them.

Pangcahlotocka emerged from the amalgamation of the Various Pangcah cities under Kacalisian, quickly dominating the East Coast and relegating the Kacalisian Empire to the Southern Tip. Similarly, The Petty Kingdom of Isbukun due to greater development, was able to defeat Takibakha as the principal Bunun State and take over much of the Central Highlands, except for a collection of petty Atayal States, that through campaigns of attrition lead to Isbukun becoming a power in decline by 1367, This was exploited by Pangcahlotocka to win border clashes.

Since the Introduction of Manichaeism on the island, the Yamu (Archegos) as the successor of Prophet Mani and leader of the faith would rule from the capital of the kingdom they hailed from, this led to many of Formosa's kingdoms to attempt influencing elections among the elect in order to appoint their bishops as Yamu, this had led to several wars between rival states.

This matter was addressed by the Pangcah Yamu Sawmah II in 1174, when she comissioned the construction of a grand temple on the southern end of Lake Zintun (Sun Moon Lake) due to its central location on the Island with Ngusansang establishing the Yamunate of Zintun. providing a neutral base of administration for the Manichean Church. Despite this, many kingdoms would still try to sway the Yamunate in their favour, most notably with the construction of monasteries/temples and the donation of money and land. Lake Zintun has become a sacred location to many Manciheans worldwide as a result with many taking pilgrimage to the lake to circumambulate around its shore.

By 1367, Formosa is home to a diverse array of states, cultures, and peoples with most of the population being of Austronesian Stock as the original homeland of the Austronesian peoples, the Plains Nations like the Siraya, Lloa, Babuza, and Taokas are more developed as thus generally have higher populations than the Highland nations, with some exceptions like the Pangcah, Kacalisian, and Basay. There are also notable Min/Hakka, Malayo-Polynesian, and Japanese minorities on the island via trade.

Religiously, most of Formosa and Ryukyu practice Manichaeism, a important elewment in the culture and society of these regions. However, Manichean beliefs have been heavily syncretised with traditional Formosan and Shinto religious customs, many of the old gods and spritis are still venerated as angels or demons, ancestor veneration and old festives would shape public life, and Manichaeism would enforce matriarchal systems in the islands with a vast majority of political figures and the Elect (Manichean Clergy) being women along with them being recognised as the head of the household.

Many of the economies in pre-industrial Formosa centred around the extraction of agricultural goods such as Camphor, Rice, Yams, Areca Nuts, and Sugar Cane along with Jade, Wild Game, and Iron being traded across markets spanning from Japan to India.

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Discovered on the Wiki page for "Manichaean art": I find this cave painting of the tree of life and the tree of death to be beautiful and haunting, but I can't for the life of me find any additional information about the mural or the cave, nor any other images aside from this photograph from 1998. The Wikipedia description says: Mural inside one of the Sengim-aghiz Caves (German: Sängim; traditional Chinese: 勝金口, pinyin: Shèngjīnkǒu; "Sengim-aghiz" is also referred to as Sengim Gorge) in Chinese Turkestan, depicting the Manichaean subjects of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Death. I guess "Chinese Turkestan" is an outdated term for the southwestern part of Xinjiang. I've wanted to go to Xinjiang since 2008, when I lived in Kunming (Yunnan, China) and enjoyed hanging out in the Uyghur part of town eating laghman (لەڭمەن)--Uyghur noodles--which the Uyghur chefs would pull by hand, slapping the table with the dough (it was so hypnotic to watch).

My heart breaks thinking about what's happening to the Uyghur people. Despite what fake leftists (tankies) say, it is real. If you're against settler colonialism in Palestine or Turtle Island, then the only morally consistent position to take is to oppose what is being done to the Uyghur people by the (Han) Chinese.

Here is another image from the same cave, depicting a tree with the vine bearing grapes. From the Wiki description: The cave which contains the mural was perhaps used for meditation because of its small size. The vine motif is closely connected with Manichaeism, V. Arnold-Döben has collected the passages referring to the vine motif in Manichaean literature, and writes: "In going through the passages [where this motif occurs] it is striking that the motif appears almost exclusively in connection with Manichaean church. In imagery, the church is a vineyard … As the church has its leader or its head, its archegos, thus the vineyard or the vine is cared for by a gardener or tender." — Manfred Heuser & Hans-Joachim Klimkeit (1998), Studies in Manichaean Literature & Art, Leiden: Brill Publishers (p. 309).